Archive for May, 2010

Oh yes, the snow is melting, the beer is in the fridge, and Burke Swindlehurst won the Ironhorse Classic in Durango. Woo Hoo!
Read about it HERE.
And in the Giro, Ivan is still in the lead.
I have a shop question for you. When was the last time you saw three tandem bicycle frames hanging for custom builds in your local fucking bike shop………I thought so.
And I mean, what other shop has 3 tandem frames set up for custom builds…..and Some Guy Named Tom right there? I ask you?
In other important news, our new custom top caps are in.
And no, there is not a magic carbon fiber ring around the edge…that would be a 1.5mm headset spacer because its cut just right.
And on a happy note, Mrs. Dr. Evil’s Tandem is done.

Stage 20 of the Giro is a go for today.
“The organizers of the Giro d’Italia have determined that avalanche risks atop the race’s tallest climb are low enough to allow the inclusion of the Passo Gavia in the 20th stage on Saturday.” Those men are hard.

I’ll be working on my pump track today….

Titus is in town. We’d like to thank Mike for bringing up the demo truck to Glenwild on Thursday. Titus will be in Sandy today, and as much as we’d love to be there to educate people on why they should buy an excellently built bike from their LBS, we’ll be working.
Funny story from the shop. On a bike that our shop built, another shop in town claimed that “we” did not have the crank spindle seated all the way in the bottom bracket. I took the crank apart to show the customer that the white area was not in fact the spindle, but in fact spacers to make everything line up when it was fabricated and they can tell their goddamn fucking goddamn other mechanic to go fuck himself and never doubt me again.
Let me all advise you to keep the rubber side down.
Get your Trek 950 on HERE. And for those of you who don’t know what that is, don’t worry.

I’m really excited for Ragbrai. The plan so far is to go to MN and stay with Mr. and Mrs Rose a day or two before. Actually, I will be leaving RAGBRAI a day or two early for Dealercamp, which will be at Deer Valley. I think Souix city is excited for RAGBRAI as well.

I know its late, but many people have asked me to give a comment about doping and Floyd Landis. Don’t know what I’m talking about…..read this
2002: I was instructed on how to use Testosterone patches by Johan Bruyneel during the During the Dauphine Libere in June, after which I flew on a helicopter with Mr Armstrong from the finish, I believe Grenoble, to San Mauritz Switzerland at which point I was personally handed a box of 2.5 mg patches in front of his wife who witnessed the exchange. About a week later, Dr Ferrari performed an extraction of half a liter of blood to be transfused back into me during the Tour de France. Mr Armstrong was not witness to the extraction but he and I had lengthy discussions about it on our training rides during which time he also explained to me the evolution of EPO testing and how transfusions were now necessary due to the inconvenience of the new test. He also divulged to me at that time that in the first year that the EPO test was used he had been told by Mr Ferrari, who had access to the new test, that he should not use EPO anymore but he did not believe Mr Farrari and continued to use it. He later, while winning the Tour de Swiss, the month before the Tour de France, tested positive for EPO at which point he and Mr Bruyneel flew to the UCI headquarters and made a financial agreement with Mr. Vrubrugen to keep the positive test hidden.
My position….so it goes. You gamble and you may win or loose. It all comes down to zoology.
On a happier note, here is dirty dressed up in a gorilla suit at the tour of cali.

Alright, and just in case you didn’t know what an escort looks like…note the douchebag with the escort
Wait, you should see this too. Maybe they can help at our next OSHA meeting.

Not just the tour of california…..but just being able to ride a bicycle on dirt. Its been a wet and cold spring in Utah. And it looked like it might be crappy in wine country….but it wan’t.
Mrs Dr. Evil and I arrived late into Napa Sunday evening. I like Napa. It reminds me a lot of Park City….except its pretty humid. The service is great at the bars and restaurants, and the town in general doesn’t mind drunks.
We promptly adjourned to a bar across from our hotel. Let me tell you also what is super awesome about Napa. We show up in work clothes, and EVERYBODY else at the bar looks like they are trying really hard to look like they are not trying really hard. $300 shoes on dudes. Tom Waits once said that he immediately judges people by their footwear. But $300 casual shoes for going out on a sunday night in wine country? WTF.
The riding was great. Snuck in the Skyline and the Kennedy trails before the rain on Monday.
The Bounty Hunter is a great wine bar in Napa. We made friends with John, a local wine guy who helped our meager minds to understand Pino Noir’s. It was great, not intimidating, and very comfortable….despite the other patrons of the establishment looking down their noses at us….maybe it was my chain driven wallet?
Tuesday brought the Tour of California. And as race VIP’s we arrived and checked into our booth.
Yeah, they treat you pretty good. They have live race coverage on flatscreens, they get you liquored up. They serve you hot cookies during the awards ceremony….its nice.
It was great. We got to see our friend David win the race and don the overall leaders jersey. The older I get, the fewer friends I have in the peloton….they end up becoming washed up, or drunks, or washed up drunks.
Then, on the excellent recommendation of Stevil Von Kinevil, I rode “Gene” Wilder park…It was really nice!
and they have a llama farm…

A little work before we pack for the trip to Napa and the TOC.
Here is this from our staff member Adrianne….

Big props to Big Jonny, who rode this week. Seriously man, I know 100% how that feels!
I took my last final exam of my second year of law school yesterday. I promptly followed that with a few drinks. I talked to a bunch of friends, watched a movie and slept like the dead. And, today, I actually had time to ride a bike.
Maybe you could take a fashion lesson from the SnakeHawk
And just in case you needed any riding motivation, here is our man Tyler Farrar winning a stage of the Giro.

I’d like to show you a sexy bike.
Elegant, sporty, classic, modern, delicious.

In funny news, team sponsor/doctor Jeff Sumsion met my my team captain, Dave, of Team Evil in Europe. here is his account.
Wow, my last email was titled ‘we made it’. That was more real than I could have imagined. Sounds like the airline world is at a standstill. In short, the five guys that were to join our group, all had their flights cancelled. The directors wife is stuck here and will miss a big project and award presentaion later in the week in NY. So Cory and I are on a private trip in Holland and Belgium with our own personal journalist, Dave from pezcycling.com (Check out their website and search for Amstel Gold and Veloclassic.) I hear there are several stories and photos of our adventures.

As far as the weather, there is not a hint of ash any where. Two days of absolute 70 degree sunshine. Could not have asked for better.

Friday’s adventure: We rode the last 80 km(~55 mi) of Sunday’s Racecourse. It had 1500m (~4800ft) of climbing. We did 8 named climbs and 50 others. Some toped out at 22% grade.Those hurt after a while. It was a blast. Saw Cervelo, Lotto, and Garmin proteams out warming up and checking out the course. This was a nice warm up to the big day tomorrow.

Saturday’s Cyclosportif: Cory and I opted for the longer 200km (~125mi) ride but for a couple of guys from ski country, chickened out on the 250km. Our longest rides so far were under 3 1/2 hours, and we were looking at over 7 hours. We rode from the Hotel (8km) to the start. It was a rolling start from 7-11 am. We started around 9. Early on we were taking pulls at about 35+ km/hr, then we hit the steep hills. The other thing to consider is the bike paths-it is illegal to ride on the street when there were paths available. The problem is that many of the streets we rode on were no wider than a bike path. Now imagine 12,000 of your closest friends of every level trying to set PR’s, riding two abreast, dodging road furniture. It was a blast. We ended up with about 220km and 2500m vertical.

Sunday-Race Day: the pro start was just a few hundred yards from our hotel in Maastrict, Holland. The twin square was filled with 30 team buses, hundreds of police motos, team cars, VIP cars, press, etc. And then again a 3-4 thousand fans trying for a look at their heros. We had passes that took up to the very front with the photo press. These guys are skinny kids. We shot out on course and saw the riders at several locations, saw millions of partying fans, and then planted ourselves on the finish line with our VIP passes. It was cool, but more exhausting than riding 200 k.

There are tons of more details, but I am so ready for bed. Another 100+ k tomorrow. Wish you were here.

I have little or no Internet access, so I won’t be answereing any emails-actually like the saying goes: eat, sleep and ride.

Good to be back in the saddle here in the Beehive state….which you may relate to this picture…
Compared to Detroit….which you may relate to this picture…
Once again, I’m writing the blog instead of balancing the bike shop check book. Oh well. At least I’ll get your bikes fixed today.
Alright, ride and smile, and don’t piss anybody off today.

I’m back from a somewhat surprise trip to DET. Kid rock and Eminem are doing just fine in case you are wondering. Wasn’t able to match schedules with Ted Nugent. Unemployment is still 30% and it rained almost the whole time.
We’re getting caught up at the shop little by little.